Lhasa Tibet, China
Frequently Asked Questions
No ship will ever approach the capital of Tibet. Lhasa is visited as a land extension, before or after an Asian cruise, by air from major Chinese cities or by the train that crosses the high plateau.
Yes. Foreign travellers must come on an organized tour, with a guide and Tibet entry permits obtained in advance by an approved agency. Access conditions change: feasibility is confirmed at the time of booking.
It demands respect. At 3,656 metres, every staircase calls for a pause. Serious itineraries build in a first day without exertion while the body adjusts; drinking plenty of water and sleeping enough are as much part of the programme as the monuments.
Three to four days minimum, to absorb the altitude and see the main sites without rushing. Any less and you risk spending half the stay acclimatizing rather than visiting.
The former seat of the Dalai Lamas, founded in the seventh century and rebuilt in the seventeenth. Its white and ochre walls rise across an entire hill, thirteen levels of chapels, gilded tombs and staircases, in the scent of yak butter feeding the votive lamps.
Yes, quotas limit daily admissions. Your tour will reserve the tickets, and the assigned time slot will shape the day: it is the fixed point around which the rest of the programme is built.
The holiest sanctuary in Tibetan Buddhism, founded in the seventh century in the heart of the old town. Its architecture blends Tibetan, Chinese, Nepalese and Indian influences, and pilgrims prostrate full-length before its doors.
The street encircling the Jokhang, forming a devotional circuit that the faithful walk clockwise, prayer wheels in hand. Joining it, in step with pilgrims from across the plateau, remains for many the strongest memory of the trip.
Drepung was in its day one of the largest monastic centres in the world, a religious city terraced at the foot of the mountains. Sera is known for its monks' philosophical debates, exchanges punctuated by handclaps in a shaded courtyard.
Bring warm clothing in any season: evenings stay cold on the high plateau even in summer. The harsh plateau light also calls for sunglasses and sun protection, sharper here than at low altitude.
